neohic

What a year for KOH! I haven’t been following the 4400 cars, so I’ve had yesterday's feed of the Everyman Challenge. 4600 class for the win! I love rooting for the underdogs! Been an awesome week!!

Nothing wrong with the plucky little 4.8s.

I think the spacer is required to keep the ball joints and the u joint in the shaft assembly aligned properly. A long while back I had all the parts sitting around that I started bolting it all together to see what’s what. It all physically went together, but there was binding in the joints when rotating through a turn. I never had the setup on the road though… only mocked on jack stands.

Same. I had some big dreams with my old ‘86 that this project truck rekindles in my head. King of the Hammers week isn’t helping either.

Nope. That’s a Ford 9” in the rear and a hybrid front out of a 9” center section and Dana 44 outers. Looks like a fun project to take over but a very small market to gain interest from.

Not an event I’ve been to but I’d love to see everything at some point. The two automotive events I really get into each year are the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and King of the Hammers. This is a great week to get home after work and watch the qualifying runs!

The paint is still as it was… shiny(ish) but still pretty bad.

I love it! Fuel injection really wakes up a 4.2. I recommend dumping the carb to anyone who drives their CJ.

Another sewing machine day with finally making a new winch cover.

I think it photographs a little better than it is. Quick project today. When I made the transfer case shifter a LONG time ago I used a GM style column shifter knob. It finally cracked and fell apart. Gone are the days of just picking up another one off the shelf at a parts store, I guess? I improvised at the hardware store.

Not a kit. It was a one-off I did in my old ‘86. The small hoops were for the straps to loop around since I used harnesses without tabs at the ends of the straps. There wasn’t near as much support as if there were door bars, but there was a noticeable difference in the structure after they were added. My original plan was to add tabs to tie the hoop into the original upper seatbelt mount also.

I didn’t use stock seats, but there’s no reason the same idea couldn’t work.

I’d be curious to see what the 5.0 swap is all about along with the axles.

Not really CJ specific type project, but I’m trying to get hard measurements on things that would live in or next to a future center console. I’ve got two grandfathers represented here. After my first grandpa passed, I grabbed one of his shirts that was used to wrap around pictures while boxing up their apartment. It was in sad shape, but I’ve held on to it for years now waiting for something like this. As for the tools, my second grandpa passed a couple years ago now and I recently received some of his wrenches. Nothing matches, and they aren’t a great set, but I love them. I threw in my old Boy Scout knife for good measure. Should keep things a little more tidy than the current over stuffed small ammo box bolted to the floor. Next is to decide if I want to modify the aluminum fuel tank I’ve got to fit under the seat or to move forward with a console.

Excellent! This is still very much a bench mark type truck.

Welcome! I love it when this truck pops back up. Are you a new caretaker?

Probably. The CJ has been getting out for little errands around town. Think I’m learning the secret handshake with the new transmission. It has been really nice driving this truck daily but I’m making a list of things that need attention.

Small update on this old truck. Daily driver status has been moved from our Focus to the Eliminator. Last weekend I noticed that the car was low on coolant and I ended up dumping a gallon into it. “That’s weird… it’s practically new!” I did some poking around and found a crack in the side of the cylinder head right next to a water neck. It’s under warranty yet so off to the dealership it went. Enter the Comanche to pick up the slack. Of course, the weather hasn’t been great… seems like whenever we need a second vehicle there’s typically snow in the forecast. Driving has been pretty well uneventful minus the alternator dying on me, and then today it was stumbling bad followed up with a no-start. Harrumph. It felt to me like a fuel issue so it got tested at the rail and things looked great. Ignition maybe? The coil tested fine, but not great. I replaced the coil with my fingers crossed only for it to start and then immediately die. Then I knew… the bank of relays got rearranged then the starter wouldn’t spin. I obviously had a failing fuel pump relay. For now, it got a cheap relay thrown at it with another one on standby in the center console. Runs great again! Found more oil where it doesn’t belong than I’m happy about though while I was under it. Lately, this truck has taken the personality of, “Oh! So you need me now? Well that’s just interesting, isn’t it?!”

Fun little project at the sewing machine today. Might add a few more bolts along the sides… maybe. Otherwise I took it for a little drive around town. Feels like the fuel injection is relearning itself that there’s a little more hitch in its giddy up.

Sure does!

Just about when the paint was dry on the new shifters was when I realized that didn’t like the reach it was to get to them. Another thing I noticed was they were encroaching on the passenger side leg room. This might be the fourth time I changed them? Feels much better. This also means that I took more out of the floor than I needed to, but that won’t make any difference when I make the boots. The next thing that was supposed to be on the list was a center console but then I started cleaning the shop and had to move the fuel tank I had earmarked for under the seat. I’ve got a project list that’s titled “CJ to Moab” that every once in a while I cross off an item. Additional fuel storage is on that list and it should probably happen before I make any decisions on a console. This tank is too big to fit under the seat as is. I’m mulling this over. I briefly grabbed a tape measure to start figuring things but quickly lost interest for the day. Something I’ve been putting off was getting the CJ back out into the world. Today was the first time I actually drove it off the property. First impressions were pretty good getting it up to speed… didn’t get over 40 though. Feels very “trucky” in how it shifts both while moving and also starting from a stop. There are for sure plenty of things to get used to in terms of new sounds and driving characteristics. I honestly was thinking the entire time, “Did it feel this slow before the swap?” as I haven’t driven it in a couple months. Anyhow… it was good to get it out.

Thanks!

I understand it’s not the focus of the picture, but cool calendar!

I was thinking the same thing. Someone checked all the right boxes for a sweet adventure wagon.